Flavia Pennetta eliminated second seed Samantha Stosur from the Mercury Insurance Open and reached the semifinals with a 6-4 6-3 victory. All the top three seeds are out of the tournament now: Jelena Jankovic, Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva.
The world No. 15 Pennetta has never lost to Stosur in their three career meetings, but it’s her first Top 10 victory since last year’s US Open. Stosur is ranked fifth.
During the quarterfinal of the Mercury Insurance Open, Stosur hit no aces and served five double faults, compared to Pennetta’s eight aces and only one double fault. Also, Pennetta had 19 winners and Stosur 12.
The Italian’s opponent in the semis will be Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian ended the hopes of qualifier Coco Vandeweghe, who upset third seed Vera Zvonareva in the second round. Kuznetsova beat Vandeweghe 7-5 6-2. (photo by John Bolan)
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